The Roman Catholic church and the American political system are comparable social structures built to distance those at the top from those at the bottom, and both are able to put laws in place to protect that structure.
The job structure of the Roman Catholic church is almost completely geared to maintain a separation of power in a rigid almost pyramidic scheme. Il Papa on the top, subordinated by his cardinals and archbishops, down to bishops and finally the lowly priest. Beneath it all sits the foundation of laypeople willing to sacrifice their time and money for purported gains in a later life. This structure also conveniently maintains a distance, both physical and spiritual, between those at the top and those at the bottom. An archbishop is, most certainly, holier than thou. The structure serves the church well, and moreover presents an almost impenetrable face to the approaching layperson. There are simply too many layers of bureaucracy.
The job structure of the American political system is a near facimile. The prez on the top, subordinated by his cabinet and senators, congresspeople, right down to the pages. A further pyramid is apparent at the state level. Both are just as effective as the church at presenting a pretty separation of important people from ordinary people. You cannot deny that a senator is far more valuable to society than the local pool hustler. They just have more influence.
This evolution toward separation of politicos and the populus is almost brutally effective at self-reinforcement. Those with the power to effect change do so to preserve that very power.
I would argue that, just like the church needed in the sixteenth century, we need a sea-change in what we expect from our politicians. We need to destroy this impersonal (and artificial) distance between a representative and their constituents at all levels of the system. I don't think any serious change for the good of the nation can be possible while this structure remains in place. The Protestant revolution brought back a personal and accessable religion to those who wanted it - the church wasn't listening to their needs, so they changed their idea of what a church could be. But we have it even easier. We don't need a revolution. We just need to talk.
Enough people are ready. We all have something to say, but no one is listening. The first step is to make them listen, again.
Today I yelled at someone driving extremely fast and cutting off some people in other lanes. They couldn't hear me. They were driving so fast that I never would have caught up anyway.